Assessment of Farmers Usage and Effectiveness of Information and Communication Technologies in Niger State Nigeria.

Abstract

The study was conducted in Paiko Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria, with the objective of assessing farmers’ usage and effectiveness of information communication technologies and also to determine respondents’ level of new information and communication technologies. Data were obtained through the use of questionnaire administered on 60 farmers that were randomly selected and analyzed using descriptive statistics, 3-point Likert scale and logit regression. The study revealed that an overwhelming majority (81.7%) of the respondents were male with an average age of 423yeras with formal education. Farm size and number of extension visits were the factors that influenced the use of ICT. While increase in farm size leads to decrease in the odds of ICT usage, increase in extension visit on the other hand led to increase in the odds of ICT usage. Based on the findings of the study, it is therefore recommended that ICT facilities and training should be channeled more to the scale farmers since they have a higher likelihood of using them.